Adil Najam

Saw this picture in The Daily Times (2 August, 2006) from Lahore, about how a thru-way street has been turned into a dead-end for no apparent reason.

I was reminded of this amusing couplet by humorous Urdu poet Anwar Masood (not to be confused with Anwar Maqsood):

Ajab deewar ik daikhi hai maiN nay aaj rastay may
na kuch deewar kay aagay, na kuch deewar kay peechay

Anwar Masood is, of course, best known for his classic Punjabi humorous poetry; including such all-time greats as Baniyan, Tou ki jaanay bholi-aye majj-aye, Doodth tay Lassi, Aj ki pakaiye, etc. Moreover he has a fascinating way of reciting his poetry, particularly his Punjabi poetry (listen to him here).

By Bilal Zuberi

Over dinner sometime last week, conversation turned to an apparent lack of reading culture in Pakistan. Participants questioned if anybody went to the bookstores any more, and why Urdu bazaars in large cities remained largely deserted until the school seasons came (though I was told Lahore now has some nice book stores). All the talk about developing reading habits in children reminded me of one of my favorite authors from childhood: Ishtiaq Ahmed.

Before there were J.R.R.Tolkien, J.K. Rowling, Hardy Boys or even Archies Comics in my life, there was Ishtiaq Ahmed: a brilliant mastermind who authored hundreds, if not thousands, of suspense thriller novels in Urdu for kids during the 1970s, 80’s and into the 1990s. (I am told the actual number is closer to 400).

It is hard not to say that I grew up wanting to be like Mahmood, Farooque aur Farzana, the three main characters in his most famous series: Inspector Jamshed. Many of us will remember owning crates full of Ishtiaq Ahmed books – kids in my mohalla even organized a book club where we loaned our Ishtiaq Ahmed books to each other for 25 paisas per novel.

Adil Najam

Our second blog poll seems to have thrown up some interesting, but also confusing, results.

Depending on how you cut the pie, you can make the argument that:

(a) a clear majority of ATP readers want Gen. Musharraf to give up both or one of his twin offices (Army Chief and President) before the 2007 elections,

and at the same time

(b) a clear (but differently configured) majority wants him to play some role – although a more constrained role – in Pakistan’s politics.

(Click image for larger picture)

A total of 114 ATP visitors cast their votes in the poll which was launched very early on Friday and closed very late on Monday. While this is obviously NOT a scientific survey, the results are rather intriguing, even if not representative.

The ATP Poll gave readers five options in response to the question:

In your opinion, what should Gen. Musharraf do prior to the 2007 elections on the twin-office (President and/or Army Chief) issue? [Please remember, the question is about what you think he should do, NOT about what you think he will do].

The option that got the most votes (41 votes; 36%) calls on Gen. Musharraf to retire at the end of 2006 and fully hand over both offices to his successors. While this was not an absolute majority, it is well over a third of all the votes cast in the poll. By comparison, only 19 of the 114 respondents (16.7%) preferred the option of Gen. Musharraf continuing in both offices simultaneously.